Pulupandan Port handed over to new operator Globalport

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Philippine Ports Authority-PMO Negros Occidental/ Bacolod/ Banago port manager Nelson Caabay, Jr. (second from left) and officers of Globalport Terminals Inc. during the turnover ceremony of the port management of Pulupandan port on May 2. Photo from PPA.
  • Pulupandan Port handed over to new operator Globalport
  • Globalport Terminals, Inc. will manage the Negros Occidental port for the next 15 years
  • The Philippine Ports Authority turned over management of the port on May 2
  • Globalport won the contract with a bid of P527 million
  • The contract covers management and operation of cargo-handling, roll-on/roll-off, and other port-related services

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) turned over on May 2 the 15-year management of Pulupandan port in Negros Occidental to Globalport Terminals, Inc. (GTI).

PPA in a statement said GTI won the port terminal management contract with a bid of P527 million.

The turnover follows PPA’s issuance of notice to proceed and signing of the contract on April 8. The notice of award was issued in December 2021.

The contract for Pulupandan covers the management and operation of cargo-handling, roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro), and other port-related services. The project involves providing stevedoring, Ro-Ro cargo, bagging, storage management, waste and shore reception facility management, water distribution, weighbridge facility, and ancillary and other related services at the port.

Nelson Caabay Jr., manager of the PPA Port Management Office of Negros Occidental/Bacolod/Banago port, turned over the contract to GTI president and chief executive Henry Rophen Virola.

GTI and its subsidiaries are engaged in port terminal management operations. The Globalport network includes the ports of Matnog, Tacloban, Nasipit, Pulupandan, Iligan, Ozamiz, Surigao, Tagbilaran, and Zamboanga, which they won in bidding under PPA’s Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework (PTMRF).

PTMRF, embodied under PPA Administrative Order No. 03-2016, outlines new rules for terminal management contracts. Under this framework, investments in ports are to be categorized into six tiers, ranging from a fully private concession to a fully PPA-managed port, for easier determination of the investment arrangements for a port.

READ: PPA bares guidelines for awarding of port management contracts

PPA has been bidding out since last year port terminal management contracts for Tier 3 ports.

Pulupandan Port handles domestic cargoes and falls under Tier 3 of the PTMRF. This means PPA handles the physical undersea and landside infrastructure works (capital investment, wharves, piers, reclamation, dredging) while the contractor invests in above-ground fixtures and semi-fixtures and mobile handling equipment (e.g. passenger terminal building, cranes, forklifts, trucks).

PPA earlier opened the bidding for the port terminal management contracts of other Tier 3 ports, namely Puerto Princesa, Ormoc, Tabaco, Legazpi, Zamboanga, Iligan, Ozamiz, Calapan, Tacloban, Nasipit, Matnog, Fort San Pedro, Surigao, Masao, Tagbilaran, Pagadian, and Pasig Riverports.

PPA has already awarded the contracts for all of these ports, except for Pagadian and Pasig River ports.

The authority also bid out recently the contract for the first Tier 2 port, Sasa Wharf in Davao.

READ: PPA seeks operator for Davao’s Sasa port

PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago earlier said the agency is privatizing the operation of ports that it manages. Including previous ones already bid out, PPA’s target is to bid out a total of 25 port terminal management contracts before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte on June 30. – Roumina Pablo

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